Anglo Coal to axe 200 jobs at Dawson Mine at Moura in central Qld

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) says workers at the Anglo American mine near Moura, west of Gladstone in central Queensland, are gutted after finding out about 200 job cuts.

Anglo Coal says it is the jobs at its Dawson Mine, because of low coal prices and the high exchange rate.

CFMEU spokesman Steve Smyth says union delegates will meet the company within the next few weeks to discuss redundancy packages and entitlement arrangements.

He says workers and their families are devastated.

"Leading into Christmas, we're what - four to six or a bit more weeks away from Christmas - and they've now got to look for new jobs," he said.

"From our members' perspective we'll continue to deal with the matter and ensure Anglo follow the certified agreement and what the law requires in relation to consultation and working through this.

"There's still a lot of unanswered questions but you've got to feel for those unfortunate people who have lost their livelihoods."

Mr Smyth says union delegates will aim to stem the job losses.

"To work through where things are at and to assure that people get the right entitlements that they are owed," he said.

"Mainly at the moment we want to talk to the company about minimising the loss of these jobs and how we can work through reducing people losing their livelihood."

Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney says the downturn in the coal industry has hurt mining towns across the Bowen Basin.

"It's symptomatic of what's happening in the coal market and there's been some downsizing across some of the more high-cost operations," he said.

"We don't like to see any job losses in any small country communities and the loss of any jobs in small country towns is significant and has a flow-on effect.

"Our Government's been working with the resources sector to try and make sure that we're doing what we can to make the industry competitive."